Transportation vehicles, for example, aircraft, trains, buses, recreation vehicle, boats and other similar vehicles use various computing devices for providing various functions, including entertainment, system control, content storage, and other functions. These computing devices include hardware (for example, servers, switches, network interface cards, storage adapters, storage devices and others) and software (for example, server applications, operating systems, firmware, management applications, application programming interface (APIs) and others).
Transportation vehicles today may have individualized functional equipment dedicated to a particular passenger seat, which can be utilized by the passenger, such as adjustable seats, adjustable environmental controls, adjustable lighting, telephony systems, video and/or audio entertainment systems, crew communication systems, and the like. Many commercial airplanes today may also have individualized video and audio entertainment systems, often referred to as “inflight entertainment” or “IFE” systems. Such systems may also be referred to as “inflight entertainment and communication” systems as well, and typically abbreviated as “IFEC” systems.
As one example of a function that a passenger may activate, entertainment systems for passenger carrier vehicles, such as commercial airlines, often have video displays installed at each passenger seat. For instance, video displays may be provided at each passenger seat, such as mounted at each of the seats of the passenger seats, and/or on cabin walls and/or deployable from an armrest for seats located at a bulkhead, i.e., in the first row of a section. Many of these systems allow each passenger to select from multiple video channels and/or audio channels, or even individually select and play videos from a library of videos. These video displays may also provide access to games, communication applications (e.g., telephone service, messaging, etc.), Internet browsing, and other computer applications. Sometimes such displays are referred to as smart monitors due to the ability to provide computer applications and process and store data internally.
To operate the seat functions, such as an individualized audio/video system, controls are provided on or near the passenger seats that allow passengers to control various functions. The controls may be physical buttons, or on-screen interfaces displayed, for instance, on the video display of the entertainment system. For example, some commercial airplane entertainment systems have on-screen interfaces for controlling a reading light, activating a crew member call signal, as well as controlling audio/video entertainment.
It has become quite commonplace for travelers to carry personal electronic devices (PEDs) having wireless communication capability, such as cellular phones, smart phones, tablet computers, laptop computers, and other portable electronic devices. This includes passengers traveling on all types of transportation including vehicles of common carriers, such as airplanes, passenger trains, buses, cruise ships, sightseeing vehicles (e.g., ships, boats, buses, cars, etc.). Many of these personal electronic devices have the capability to execute application programs (“apps”) to perform various functions, including controlling other devices and systems.
In conventional systems, a passenger of a transportation vehicle, for example, an aircraft, typically has to sort through printed materials or electronic displays to determine what may be available to watch, listen, buy, or request. The passenger may call a flight attendant for service or basic information and wait for the requested service. Continuous efforts are being made to develop innovative technology for improving passenger travel experience and providing tools to transportation carriers for meeting passenger needs.